Agenda item

Worcestershire Regulatory Services Revenue Monitoring April - June 2020

Meeting of Virtual Skype meeting, Worcestershire Regulatory Services Board, Thursday 1st October 2020 4.30 p.m. (Item 15/20)

Minutes:

Members were asked to consider the Worcestershire Regulatory Services Revenue Monitoring for April to June 2020.

The Head of Finance & Customer Services, Bromsgrove District Council, introduced the report and in doing so drew Members’ attention to the Recommendations as detailed on pages 28 and 28 of the main agenda report.

Members were asked to note that the budget may need to be adjusted slightly following the deferment of Recommendation 1.4, Agenda Item 4.

Members were further informed that the report showed a projected outturn 2020/2021 of £26k deficit. This was an estimation to the year-end based on the following assumptions:-

· There were two vacant posts within the service, we have assumed no recruitment to the Business & Relationship Manager for the current year to assist in reducing the projected outturn deficit. This will need to be reviewed at the end of quarter 3. The other vacant post was a Regulatory Apprentice which we hoped to recruit to in the near future.

If April to June 20 spend on pest control continued on the same trend for the rest of year, there would be an overspend on this service of £20k. WRS officers would continue to monitor and analyse this spend and advise of final recharges for 2020/21 as soon as possible. The projected outturn figure to be funded by partners was:-

Redditch Borough Council £6k

Wychavon District Council £4k

Members’ attention was drawn to the figures detailed in Appendix 1 to the report, which detailed a -£60k variance. Due to a reduction in dogs straying, the dog warden had been taken in house. This could peak though when lockdown started to be lifted. Also, the variance of £19k due to additional costs relating to Gull Control & Pest Control that was charged to relevant partners.

Councillor J. Squires, Worcester City Council raised the following question “WRS was in receipt of a grant from government around Covid-19, but this was not included in any of the finance papers before Members tonight. Where / when would this feature; and what work has been carried out.”

The Head of Regulatory Services informed the Board that Worcestershire County Council (WCC) has received a sum of money from government for the disease control activity that was required to manage the Covid 19 outbreak. WRS were asked to provide Environmental Health Officer cover for the local outbreak response team; to work with the Public Health Consultants. Environmental Health Officers time had been costed in order to help manage this and the work needed to address the outbreak. The estimated bill to WCC was £168k, which had not yet been drawn down, however WCC were aware that they would be billed. All of the funds would be spent, if not more, in order to continue to carry out the normal WRS business activities.

The Head of Regulatory Services further informed Members that he was not aware of any additional funding for Covid 19 related work. He had not approached the partner Chief Executives / Managing Directors yet to request further funding, but it was something he was considering given the significant draw on WRS resources with Covid 19.

In response to Councillor J. Squires, Worcester City Council, the Head of Regulatory Services explained that the financial impact of Covid 19 and any impact on WRS income would be seen in quarter 2. The Technical Services Managers team were carrying work on income, with some difficult projects that would generate some income. His best guess estimate would be potentially £30/40k reduction in income.

Work with the Public Health Consultants local outbreak response team did not commence until after quarter 1, the cost of that work and the monies drawn down from WCC would be included in the quarter 2 financial monitoring report.

Supporting documents: